HistorianNigel Cliff delivers a sweeping, radical reinterpretation of Vasco da Gama’spioneering voyages, revealing their significance as a decisive turning point inthe struggle between Christianity and Islam—a series of events which foreveraltered the relationship between East and West. Perfect for readers of Endurance:Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, Galileo’sDaughter, and Atlantic, this first-ever completeaccount of da Gama’s voyages includes new information from the recentlydiscovered diaries of his sailors and an extraordinary series of lettersbetween da Gama and the Zamorin, a king of modern-dayKerala, India. Cliff, the author of The Shakespeare Riots, draws uponhis own travels in da Gama’s footsteps to add detail, authenticity, and acontemporary perspective to this riveting, one-of-a-kind historical epic.
Holy War
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Review
“Lively and ambitious . . . Cliff has a novelist’s gift for depicting character . . . he brings 16th century Portugal in all its splendor and squalor pungently to life.” (Eric Ormsby, New York Times Book Review )
“Epic . . . a compelling adventure tale, told by Cliff with the right mix of sweep and detail.” (BookPage )
“Readers who enjoy a yeasty narrative by a skilled storyteller will mark this book as one of their favorites of the year.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer )
“Nigel Cliff’s Holy War is one of the most readable, engaging, and provoking books of the season, hands down . . . Cliff . . . writes with considerable energy, humor and narrative skill.” (Kansas City Star )
“A fresh take on the history of the age of discovery . . . Cliff opens new vistas on much-explored territory.” (Publishers Weekly )
“A useful addition to a continuing lively discussion of Christianity and Islam, situated both in respect of religions and culture, as well as empires and trade.” (Kirkus )
“Cliff tells an often thrilling tale of adventure . . . He effectively restores the luster of da Gama’s achievement and provocatively reassesses the goals and significance of his expedition.” (Booklist )
“A story told with great flair and serious scholarship.” (James Eckardt, The Nation )
“A stirringly epic book…a thrilling narrative…This is broad-brush history, but it is accurate, and enlivened by splendid spots of color.” (Sunday Times (London) )
“Epic . . . a compelling adventure tale, told by Cliff with the right mix of sweep and detail.” (BookPage )
“Readers who enjoy a yeasty narrative by a skilled storyteller will mark this book as one of their favorites of the year.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer )
“Nigel Cliff’s Holy War is one of the most readable, engaging, and provoking books of the season, hands down . . . Cliff . . . writes with considerable energy, humor and narrative skill.” (Kansas City Star )
“A fresh take on the history of the age of discovery . . . Cliff opens new vistas on much-explored territory.” (Publishers Weekly )
“A useful addition to a continuing lively discussion of Christianity and Islam, situated both in respect of religions and culture, as well as empires and trade.” (Kirkus )
“Cliff tells an often thrilling tale of adventure . . . He effectively restores the luster of da Gama’s achievement and provocatively reassesses the goals and significance of his expedition.” (Booklist )
“A story told with great flair and serious scholarship.” (James Eckardt, The Nation )
“A stirringly epic book…a thrilling narrative…This is broad-brush history, but it is accurate, and enlivened by splendid spots of color.” (Sunday Times (London) )
From the Back Cover
A sweeping historical epic and a radical new interpretation of Vasco da Gama’s groundbreaking voyages, seen as a turning point in the struggle between Christianity and Islam
In 1498 a young captain sailed from Portugal, circumnavigated Africa, crossed the Indian Ocean, and discovered the sea route to the Indies and, with it, access to the fabled wealth of the East. It was the longest voyage known to history. The little ships were pushed beyond their limits, and their crews were racked by storms and devastated by disease. However, their greatest enemy was neither nature nor even the sheer dread of venturing into unknown worlds that existed on maps populated by coiled, toothy sea monsters. With bloodred Crusader crosses emblazoned on their sails, the explorers arrived in the heart of the Muslim East at a time when the old hostilities between Christianity and Islam had risen to a new level of intensity. In two voyages that spanned six years, Vasco da Gama would fight a running sea battle that would ultimately change the fate of three continents.
An epic tale of spies, intrigue, and treachery; of bravado, brinkmanship, and confused and often comical collisions between cultures encountering one another for the first time; Holy War also offers a surprising new interpretation of the broad sweep of history. Identifying Vasco da Gama’s arrival in the East as a turning point in the centuries-old struggle between Islam and Christianity—one that continues to shape our world—Holy War reveals the unexpected truth that both Vasco da Gama and his archrival, Christopher Columbus, set sail with the clear purpose of launching a Crusade whose objective was to reach the Indies; seize control of its markets in spices, silks, and precious gems from Muslim traders; and claim for Portugal or Spain, respectively, all the territories they discovered. Vasco da Gama triumphed in his mission and drew a dividing line between the Muslim and Christian eras of history—what we in the West call the medieval and the modern ages. Now that the world is once again tipping back East, Holy War offers a key to understanding age-old religious and cultural rivalries resurgent today.
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More About the Author
Nigel Cliff is a historian, biographer, and critic. He was educated at Oxford University, where he was awarded the Beddington Prize for English Literature. He is a former theater and film critic for the London Times and a contributor to The Economist and other publications. His first book, The Shakespeare Riots, was a finalist for the National Award for Arts Writing and was selected as one of the best nonfiction books of 2007 by the Washington Post. He lives in London with his wife, the ballerina Viviana Durante, and their son.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By DaLaoHu
Format:Kindle Edition
This is history at its best and history at its worst. At its best because it takes one subject (Vasco da Gama's pioneering voyage around Africa to the coast of India) and tries to place it within the broader scope of world history. This is something you rarely encounter in history texts, which typically focus upon their one particular subject as if it happened within an isolation tank. Yes, it's true that the Crusades were much more than just some medieval joust between Richard the Lion-Hearted and Saladin, but raged on in one form or another for well over half a millenium and are still a significant rallying point in the Mideast to this day. And this book should be applauded for taking the voyages of discovery, and in particular the voyage of da Gama, and placing it within the context of those continuing Crusades. Because a good part of what motivated the Portuguese crown to undertake these voyages was indeed a desire to connect with a mythical/legendary Christian kingdom in either Africa or India (or both) and unite with them to strike a blow against Islam. [Immediately prior to reading this book, and purely by chance, I had just finished reading a collection of academic papers concerning the legend of Prester John, and in truth there was an embassy from Ethiopia to Portugal which reignited this legend and was an important spur to the initiation of the voyages down the coast of Africa).
That said, however, I must now turn to the worst. Although the author must be applauded for placing da Gama's voyage within the context of world history, he must at the same time be derided for trying to force-fit it into only one particular aspect of that world history. Because even by examining the author's own evidence, it quickly becomes apparent that although the voyages may have been initiated by a desire to defeat Islam and recapture Jerusalem, they most certainly only continued because they proved to be economically profitable. You quickly notice that for all the bombast, the Portuguese never made a serious effort to either connect with Ethiopia or to probe into the Red Sea, but instead concentrated all of their efforts on the trading ports of India and later on the Spice Islands themselves, the source of much of India's wealth. In short, it was convenient for the Crown to project a public image of being on a Crusade, but the bottom line was that it was mainly interested in filling the coffers of its treasury.
Or as Kurt Vonnegut once so famously said: "And so it goes."
There are other negative aspects to this book. For one thing, it is not well referenced. To give just one example, there are several pages devoted to the initial meeting between da Gama and the Zamorin (a local ruler) in India, played out for us in much detail. But there is not one footnote to reference for us where exactly this detail comes from. This type of omission happens far too often throughout this text. Also, in trying to (over)hype his thesis, he has the bad habit of throwing in contemporary phrases that are totally out of context for the period he is writing about. He talks about medieval "superpowers" and of certain Islamic states trying to create a "new world order." We also see such terms as "putting boots on the ground," "mission drift," and "stay the course," which are merely cloying at best but deceptive at worst.
There is more, but other reviewers have touched on some of it, and as I do not like my reviews to be overly long, I will stop at that.
Still, I give this book four stars because it does read well and because, as stated in the beginning, it does place an interesting event within a much overlooked context of world history. In a sense, he is correct that the Crusades, far from being an isolated event in the past, have not yet truly ended.
Read it. In this case, the "history at its best" outweighs the "history at its worst."
That said, however, I must now turn to the worst. Although the author must be applauded for placing da Gama's voyage within the context of world history, he must at the same time be derided for trying to force-fit it into only one particular aspect of that world history. Because even by examining the author's own evidence, it quickly becomes apparent that although the voyages may have been initiated by a desire to defeat Islam and recapture Jerusalem, they most certainly only continued because they proved to be economically profitable. You quickly notice that for all the bombast, the Portuguese never made a serious effort to either connect with Ethiopia or to probe into the Red Sea, but instead concentrated all of their efforts on the trading ports of India and later on the Spice Islands themselves, the source of much of India's wealth. In short, it was convenient for the Crown to project a public image of being on a Crusade, but the bottom line was that it was mainly interested in filling the coffers of its treasury.
Or as Kurt Vonnegut once so famously said: "And so it goes."
There are other negative aspects to this book. For one thing, it is not well referenced. To give just one example, there are several pages devoted to the initial meeting between da Gama and the Zamorin (a local ruler) in India, played out for us in much detail. But there is not one footnote to reference for us where exactly this detail comes from. This type of omission happens far too often throughout this text. Also, in trying to (over)hype his thesis, he has the bad habit of throwing in contemporary phrases that are totally out of context for the period he is writing about. He talks about medieval "superpowers" and of certain Islamic states trying to create a "new world order." We also see such terms as "putting boots on the ground," "mission drift," and "stay the course," which are merely cloying at best but deceptive at worst.
There is more, but other reviewers have touched on some of it, and as I do not like my reviews to be overly long, I will stop at that.
Still, I give this book four stars because it does read well and because, as stated in the beginning, it does place an interesting event within a much overlooked context of world history. In a sense, he is correct that the Crusades, far from being an isolated event in the past, have not yet truly ended.
Read it. In this case, the "history at its best" outweighs the "history at its worst."
60 of 70 people found the following review helpful
By Caddis Nymph
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
How many movies and television specials, not to mention books, have we had about the kings and queens of England? Bunches. Those dang Spanish Catholics always trying to marry Elizabeth I ... or sending an armada against England. "Holy War," however, shows you the point of view of the Spanish in all of those situations, which is incredibly interesting and instructive.
The book reads like a novel. Christopher Columbus heads west to get to the East, to India; Vasco da Gama heads south around the tip of Africa and into the Indian Ocean ... no one has ever done that before. Columbus tripped over a few desultory islands and was credited with discovering a continent. Da Gama sailed into the ports of India not just once, but three times, and took the prize of intercepting the flow of spices and treasure that had been flowing out of the East, through Egypt, into the hands of the Venetians in the North of Italy. Now that was no longer the case; eventually, all the merchants of Alexandria had to sell was coffee ... the Portuguese had become the center of European trade and Venice was a power no longer.
But the really important point this book makes clear is that the king of Portugal saw the interruption of trade and his amassing of treasure as a way to send the Knights Templar from Portugal along with thousands of other crusaders to strike through to Jerusalem and free it from the control of Islam, killing thousands of Muslims as a side benefit if they refused to convert.
The point is made that September 11 is merely the latest step in a war between Christianity and Islam that's been going on for a long time. Christopher Columbus doesn't seem that far removed from us in time, but we see his effort on behalf of Spain only as the way America was discovered. At the same time Portugal was striking at Islam and the spice trade. These days, it's obvious that Christianity's in the driver's seat, but as the winner 500 years ago, the West is complacent ... or has been complacent enough to have forgotten the long-term battle. The losers of such battles, however, have long memories, so striking against the West, be it 9/11 in America or other recent dates in England and Spain, is to Islam just a continuation of the age-old battle for the supremacy of their religion.
I regret, however, that the lazy publisher didn't go to the work of embedding links to the footnotes in the text. At the beginning of the notes, which comprise more than 35% of the entire file's length, one is told one should use Kindle's text search capability to find the spot in the text the note is referring to. For a serious yet terrifically readable book like this one to be issued without linked footnotes is a crime of the first water. HarperCollins should be ashamed.
The book reads like a novel. Christopher Columbus heads west to get to the East, to India; Vasco da Gama heads south around the tip of Africa and into the Indian Ocean ... no one has ever done that before. Columbus tripped over a few desultory islands and was credited with discovering a continent. Da Gama sailed into the ports of India not just once, but three times, and took the prize of intercepting the flow of spices and treasure that had been flowing out of the East, through Egypt, into the hands of the Venetians in the North of Italy. Now that was no longer the case; eventually, all the merchants of Alexandria had to sell was coffee ... the Portuguese had become the center of European trade and Venice was a power no longer.
But the really important point this book makes clear is that the king of Portugal saw the interruption of trade and his amassing of treasure as a way to send the Knights Templar from Portugal along with thousands of other crusaders to strike through to Jerusalem and free it from the control of Islam, killing thousands of Muslims as a side benefit if they refused to convert.
The point is made that September 11 is merely the latest step in a war between Christianity and Islam that's been going on for a long time. Christopher Columbus doesn't seem that far removed from us in time, but we see his effort on behalf of Spain only as the way America was discovered. At the same time Portugal was striking at Islam and the spice trade. These days, it's obvious that Christianity's in the driver's seat, but as the winner 500 years ago, the West is complacent ... or has been complacent enough to have forgotten the long-term battle. The losers of such battles, however, have long memories, so striking against the West, be it 9/11 in America or other recent dates in England and Spain, is to Islam just a continuation of the age-old battle for the supremacy of their religion.
I regret, however, that the lazy publisher didn't go to the work of embedding links to the footnotes in the text. At the beginning of the notes, which comprise more than 35% of the entire file's length, one is told one should use Kindle's text search capability to find the spot in the text the note is referring to. For a serious yet terrifically readable book like this one to be issued without linked footnotes is a crime of the first water. HarperCollins should be ashamed.
63 of 88 people found the following review helpful
By P. Graham
Format:Kindle Edition
People who may be interested in this book would be well served to read the review of it in the September 17 edition of the Wall Street Journal by Professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto. The review excoriates the book and its author, "former theater and film critic" Nigel Cliff. Professor Fernandez-Armesto's review is spot on: The book is dreadful.
Cliff offers his readers nothing more substantial than a subtitle to show "How Vasco Da Gama's Epic Voyage Turned the Tide in a Centuries-Old Clash of Civilizations." Instead he regurgitates a trite tale of a loathsome and guilty "West" (and Catholic "West" in particular) exploiting a blissful and blameless "East" (and Islamic "East" in particular). It is no more than a childish outburst of a European with a deep sense of civilizational self-loathing.
I will just cite a few examples that represent the quality of thought of the author.
On page 26, Cliff states that "the struggle [by native Iberian rulers to reclaim territories conquered by the Arabs and Berbers] soon developed a name - the Reconquest - that swept aside the inconvenient fact that most of the peninsula had been Muslim territory for longer than it had been Christian." Here Cliff envelops a purely juvenile idea in the snide tone that he affects toward the West throughout the book. His so-called inconvenient fact is also wrong (as is usually the case with facts called "inconvenient").
Even if we accept Cliff's date of 1064 as the start of the "Reconquest" (which is certainly wrong as, for example, a Christian Kingdom of Leon had been re-established on territories re-conquered from the Muslims about a century and a half earlier), that would mean that "most of the peninsula had been Muslim territory" for about 350 years following the Muslim conquest of 711 to 716.
The date on which the peninsula first "became Christian" is more difficult to pinpoint because, unlike Islam, it was not imposed there at the tip of a sword. It seems probable that it could have been as early as, or earlier than, the Council of Elvira held in Granada sometime between 305 and 310 (attended by nineteen Spanish bishops) and it was certainly no later than the end of the reign of Constantine the Great in 337, by which time all of the Roman Empire was Christian. The successors to the Romans - the Vandals, Sueves, and Visigoths - were also Christian. In other words, the peninsula "had been Christian" at the time of the Muslim conquest for at least 375 to 400 years.
More importantly, by 1064, most of the population of the peninsula "had been Muslim" -- if indeed this ever was the case -- for not more than a century. The work of the historian R.W. Bulliet concludes that Muslims may have first exceeded 50% of the population of just Al-Andalus by about 950. By way of comparison, the Muslim proportion circa 850 is estimated at around 12.5%. These figures do not include the Christian populations of the "re-conquested" Iberian territories of the Kingdoms of Leon, Galicia, or Navarre. This, of course, does not mean that most of the territory had not been ruled over by Muslims for 350 years, but that is the "tip of the sword" part of the story.
Snide, simple-minded, and inaccurate statements do not produce history worth reading.
The entire book and Cliff's perspective on things can be readily summarized by the last few pages. On the book's penultimate page, Cliff offers praise to those who have pursued a spirit of cooperation between Muslims and Christians: "There is another way - a way shown by the many men and women who instinctively rejected the division of the globe into rival religious blocs." Fair enough.
Cliff then offers us a short list of such people and among that short list is - and this does not appear to be any more of a joke than is his entire book -- "Mehmet the Conquerer, the cultivated tyrant who turned Istanbul into an international melting pot."
Cliff offers his readers nothing more substantial than a subtitle to show "How Vasco Da Gama's Epic Voyage Turned the Tide in a Centuries-Old Clash of Civilizations." Instead he regurgitates a trite tale of a loathsome and guilty "West" (and Catholic "West" in particular) exploiting a blissful and blameless "East" (and Islamic "East" in particular). It is no more than a childish outburst of a European with a deep sense of civilizational self-loathing.
I will just cite a few examples that represent the quality of thought of the author.
On page 26, Cliff states that "the struggle [by native Iberian rulers to reclaim territories conquered by the Arabs and Berbers] soon developed a name - the Reconquest - that swept aside the inconvenient fact that most of the peninsula had been Muslim territory for longer than it had been Christian." Here Cliff envelops a purely juvenile idea in the snide tone that he affects toward the West throughout the book. His so-called inconvenient fact is also wrong (as is usually the case with facts called "inconvenient").
Even if we accept Cliff's date of 1064 as the start of the "Reconquest" (which is certainly wrong as, for example, a Christian Kingdom of Leon had been re-established on territories re-conquered from the Muslims about a century and a half earlier), that would mean that "most of the peninsula had been Muslim territory" for about 350 years following the Muslim conquest of 711 to 716.
The date on which the peninsula first "became Christian" is more difficult to pinpoint because, unlike Islam, it was not imposed there at the tip of a sword. It seems probable that it could have been as early as, or earlier than, the Council of Elvira held in Granada sometime between 305 and 310 (attended by nineteen Spanish bishops) and it was certainly no later than the end of the reign of Constantine the Great in 337, by which time all of the Roman Empire was Christian. The successors to the Romans - the Vandals, Sueves, and Visigoths - were also Christian. In other words, the peninsula "had been Christian" at the time of the Muslim conquest for at least 375 to 400 years.
More importantly, by 1064, most of the population of the peninsula "had been Muslim" -- if indeed this ever was the case -- for not more than a century. The work of the historian R.W. Bulliet concludes that Muslims may have first exceeded 50% of the population of just Al-Andalus by about 950. By way of comparison, the Muslim proportion circa 850 is estimated at around 12.5%. These figures do not include the Christian populations of the "re-conquested" Iberian territories of the Kingdoms of Leon, Galicia, or Navarre. This, of course, does not mean that most of the territory had not been ruled over by Muslims for 350 years, but that is the "tip of the sword" part of the story.
Snide, simple-minded, and inaccurate statements do not produce history worth reading.
The entire book and Cliff's perspective on things can be readily summarized by the last few pages. On the book's penultimate page, Cliff offers praise to those who have pursued a spirit of cooperation between Muslims and Christians: "There is another way - a way shown by the many men and women who instinctively rejected the division of the globe into rival religious blocs." Fair enough.
Cliff then offers us a short list of such people and among that short list is - and this does not appear to be any more of a joke than is his entire book -- "Mehmet the Conquerer, the cultivated tyrant who turned Istanbul into an international melting pot."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insight into history... and today
Having lived in Portugal as a youth, I knew of its outsized accomplishments and its faded dreams. Nigel Cliff has created a time machine permitting us to not only see the men who... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Randy Harrison
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
When Vasco da Gama managed to steer his little fleet around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean to India the world was shaken more than anyone realized. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Rebecca Lindroos
2.0 out of 5 stars
Really bad as history.
This book is at best revisionist history and at worst historical fiction. The author has a very apparent anti-western bias. Read more
Published 4 months ago by A. C. Peterson
3.0 out of 5 stars
History Buffs Only
This book was required to read for a college history course. I, personally, did not enjoy this book and would not have read it if I was not required to. Read more
Published 5 months ago by jormer
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very readable
Enjoyed it. Very readable synopsis of the cultural and spiritual setting for the time. Story itself is exciting, reading like a historical romance
Published 5 months ago by Gregory A. Peot
4.0 out of 5 stars
Eye opener for the casual history buff
Mr. Cliff has followed the trail of Vasco Da Gama and his successful efforts to open the middle east and the far east trading to Portugal eclipsing the Venetian strangle hold on... Read more
Published 5 months ago by R.C. Coleman
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating History!
A fascinating history on Portugese and Western attempts to colonize the Orient.
While Columbus discovery of America traveling East, the Portugese exploration traveling West,... Read more
While Columbus discovery of America traveling East, the Portugese exploration traveling West,... Read more
Published 6 months ago by TJ
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Un"holy War
A very informative read about a tiny country with outsized ambitions. The cast of characters is facinating, from Gama and the Kings of Portugal to the lowest sailors/soldiers who... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Philip Wiesner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazon review
Terrific historical account of the voyages of Vasco da Gama, and the puruit of Crusades by the Portugeuse monarchy. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jay R. Leite
4.0 out of 5 stars
Renamed Knights Templar Funded Portuguese Discovery of Sea Lanes to...
Most of us probably emerged from grade school able to recite three or four true sentences about such Portuguese heroes as Prince Henry the Navigator, Vasco Da Gama and Fernando... Read more
Published 8 months ago by T. Patrick Killough
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